The 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship Game between No. 4 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia kicks off tonight at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The Crimson Tide and Bulldogs have both had over a week to prepare for this matchup, which has the potential to be an epic one. Regardless of who wins, the SEC already claimed another national title when both sides advanced through the semifinal this past Saturday.

Oddsmakers are expecting a close contest, installing Alabama as a 4.5-point favorite at the open. That line shifted down a full point at many books after it became known that Crimson Tide starters Afternee Jenkins and Lester Cotton would be held out and Minkah Fitzpatrick was limited in practice due to injury. These revelations have not stopped backers from hammering the chalk, as ESPN reported that William Hill has seen an overwhelming majority of the total money bet Alabama, including 88% of the money line—the Tide will return $1 for every $1.80 bet at current -180 ML odds—and 73% of the point spread money.

Will ‘Bama live up to these overwhelming expectations, or will Georgia come through against the odds as the ‘dog? Jon Price of SportsInformationTraders.com liked Georgia with the points when betting opened and has another lean on tonight’s game that you will not want to miss. Before getting to the professional handicapper’s latest prediction, take a look at the complete viewing guide for the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship Game, which includes start time, TV info, live streaming site, updated odds and much more.

The matchup features a pair of one-loss teams that arrived at the title game following two distinctly different paths. Georgia took a traditional route, winning the SEC East and the SEC Championship Game to earn a College Football Playoff berth that wasn’t exactly controversial. Then the ‘Dawgs bested Oklahoma in a Rose Bowl shootout for the ages, a game that finally ended in double-overtime when star running back Sony Michel scampered for a 27-yard touchdown to put UGA through to the finals, 54-48.

The Tide’s journey was a bit more contentious. After steamrolling through the much of the regular season, they came up short in the season-ending Iron Bowl battle. That loss forced ‘Bama down to No. 2 in the SEC West and thus missed their opportunity to travel to Atlanta to compete in the conference championship. Despite not even winning the division, the CFP committee still deemed the Crimson Tide worthy of a semifinal berth as one of the country’s top four clubs. Alabama narrowly edged out an Ohio State team that was fresh off handing Wisconsin its only loss of the season in the Big Ten Championship Game. Debate swirled around their validity as a CFP contender, but the Tide proved their doubters wrong with a 24-6 Sugar Bowl blowout of the Clemson Tigers.

While the programs took different roads to Atlanta, there are many links between the schools involved in this all-SEC affair, including players—receivers Riley Ridley of Georgia and Calvin Ridley of Alabama are brothers who will square off tonight— coaches, style of play and even the Auburn opponent that handed them both their only losses of the season.

One of the most direct links is through the head coaches. Georgia’s Kirby Smart will meet his former boss and mentor on the field for the first time since taking over in Athens back in late 2015.

Chris Low noted that Smart has a rare opportunity to join an exclusive club of active coaches that have managed to best Saban during the last 16 years:

Kirby Smart can join an exclusive group if Georgia defeats Alabama on Monday. Only 7 active head coaches have beaten Nick Saban in his 16 seasons as an SEC head coach at Alabama and LSU -- Malzahn (twice), Meyer (twice), Richt (twice), Cutcliffe, Ferentz, Swinney and Whittingham.

Prior to accepting the UGA gig, Smart spent 11 seasons under Nick Saban at LSU, the Miami Dolphins and most recently Alabama. He worked his way up from coaching defensive backs (LSU) and safeties (Dolphins) to assistant head coach/defensive backs and then defensive coordinator for the Tide, a title he held for eight seasons. During his time as DC, Smart was instrumental in overseeing a defensive juggernaut that paced ‘Bama to three national titles.

According to The Advocate, Smart said he applied to Saban’s LSU squad when he was working as a graduate assistant as Florida State not because of the head coach, but because of the conference and the fact that he needed to advance in his career:

I didn’t want the job because it was Nick Saban; I wanted the job because I didn’t have a job. It was my first career SEC job, so it was a great opportunity for me.

If Smart's Georgia team is going to pull off the upset on Monday night, it will likely need to win the war in the trenches. The Tide and ‘Dawgs are built extremely similar, relying on an elite defense to keeping scores low and shutting down opposing offenses. Both teams ranked near the top in the country in this category, with the Tide boasting the No. 1 scoring defense and Georgia coming in at No. 5.

Chris Low pointed out that a majority of national champions over the past decade have been defensive powerhouses and that will not change in 2018 regardless of which team wins:

With Alabama ranking 1st nationally in scoring defense and Georgia 5th, that means 8 of the last 10 national champions will have finished in the top-10 nationally in scoring defense and 7 of the last 10 in the top-5 nationally in scoring defense.

One of the key battles will be Alabama’s rushing offense—which averages 256 yards per game—against Georgia’s run-stoppers, a group that allowed an average of 122 yards per contest in 2017. The Tide have a bell cow in their backfield via Damien Harris, but also feature a number of players behind him that can come in and rip off big gains. There’s also quarterback Jalen Hurts, now a veteran under center and more than capable of creating plays with his legs.

Alabama’s defense has performed a bit better than UGA’s this season, but hasn’t seen a tandem of running backs as prolific as Sony Michel and Nick Chubb yet this year. This dynamic duo smashed the career duo rushing record set by SMU’s Pony Express offense of Eric Dickerson and Craigs James back in the 1980, rushing for 8,259 combined yards since arriving on campus together. These two ran wild in the Rose Bowl, racking up 326 yards and five touchdowns on 25 carries, but now face a defense more capable than any to contain them.

Alabama defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick, winner of the Bednarik Award for the country’s top defender, gave the scouting report on the two backs he will be tasked with containing tonight, as per the Duluth News Tribune:

Chubb is more of a north-south runner, but he can bounce the ball ... and cut back on the zone runs. Sony Michel, he's more of a slasher. He's going to make you miss in the open field.

Over the last 10 years, the Tide have gone toe-to-toe with 32 teams that averaged over 200 yards per game on the ground. In those matchups, Alabama averaged 116 rushing yards against and only allowed one of those 32 teams to eclipse the 200-yard mark. It’s a concerning trend for Georgia, but Michel and Chubb will be ready for the challenge.

Even Saban acknowledged the level of greatness that these two have attained, as per Newsday: “I can’t say enough about how I feel about and how much respect I have for what they’ve been able to accomplish and what they’ve done this year.

It’s highly likely that the side that wins the running battle will win the war, but that matchup is as close to a toss-up right now as there has been in college football all year. Fortunately betting expert Jon Price has been studying up on the 2018 National Championship and has another winning pick in store. Here’s what the Vegas pro has to say about tonight’s game:

Price’s Take: “The betting action and line movements aroun this Alabama-Georgia national title game has been intriguing since it first opened last week. I’m still sticking to my guns that Georgia covers the spread but doesn’t win (note: you can read the original article and prediction here), but I do think there will be a bit more scoring now that there has been some light shed on the injury front.

The Crimson Tide will have to go without a number of starters on the defensive side of the ball on Monday night. Now that Anfernee Jennings has been declared out, Bama is now missing its three top linebackers. Jennings' absence is a big blow to that defense considering he had three tackles for a loss against Clemson. Minkah Fitzpatrick is also not 100%, which is a boon for Georgia as he’s the nation’s top defender.

Alabama has so much depth it’s actual ridiculous, but they’re still thrusting some of these backups in that haven’t been playing consistently and asking them to perform at a high level on the biggest stage. Mistakes will happen and that should lead at least another score or two for the Bulldogs. Factor in that the under was hammered pretty heavily early on, knocking the total down from the open of 48 to 45, and you are looking at a good spot to get in with the over.

This is going to be a fun game between two teams that emphasize the run and defense. Usually that means low totals, but the injuries and magnitude of the contest will lead to more scoring than expected. Add in that five of the last six times ‘Bama’s played in January the total has gone over the total and you have the over as tonight’s top play.

I've been working in the realm of sports my entire career, starting as a breaking news writer right out of Arizona State University. After three years of writing, I jumped to the business side of the industry as a senior research analyst for two major corporations. I'm now ...